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Comparing and Contrasting Literary Elements Using a Document Camera
Texts Used: "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

Standards:

Reading VSC Standards
1.2.4:
The student will identify and/or explain connections between and among themes and/or styles of two or more texts.


Technology Standards
Maryland Technology Literacy Standards for Students

6.0
A.
Students use technology tools to:
1. compare information from different sources
2. analyze findings
3. draw conclusions
4. communicate conclusions, inferences, and ideas


Maryland Teacher Technology Standards
IV. Assistive Technology
1. Identify and analyze assistive technology resources that accommodate individual student learning needs.
2. Information Access, Evaluation, Processing and Application
3. Evaluate information ciritcally and competely for a specific purpose
4. Apply information accurately in order to solve a problem or answer a question.


Lesson Plan Summary: The powerpoint presentation shows a lesson comparing and contrasting Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Raven." Students had already read the short story and poem prior to the lesson in the presentation. As a part of their analysis, they were to compare and contrast Poe's writing style and story elements from "The Raven" and "The Pit and the Pendulum." Using the document camera, the image of the venn diagram was posted, and students placed their answers onto their diagrams. One student was selected to write the student responses onto the displayed image from the document camera onto the board. At the conclusion of the lesson, you see the completed venn diagram with their answers.


Reflection: Using the document camera requires planning and preparation. Through the use of the document camera, students were able to have multiple streams of reinforcement, other than my talking to them. They were actively engaged in the lesson, and it increased their understanding and recall of information discovered during the lesson. The use of the document camera for this lesson showed me how powerful images are in reinforcing learning for students with disabilities. These students, after review and prompting, were able to discuss, analyze, evaluate, and make connections between texts. Without them knowing it, they were using critical thinking skills to share ideas and surprise me with the depth of their responses. While they were learning, so was I. Elmo brings a different dimension to teaching with technology.